Put me in coach! Major League Baseball is back, and we’re looking to get off to a winning start with our free MLB picks on the Opening Day matchup between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels.
Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels
Thursday, April 7, 2022 – 09:38 PM EDT at Angel Stadium
Following a winter of discontent between owners and players, then an abbreviated Spring Training once the billionaires and millionaires decided to make nice, baseball is back on the sports betting calendar. The chink it threw into the original schedule means all 30 clubs won’t be on the field for Opening Day, but there are some juicy matchups like the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels.
Houston is a heavy favorite on the MLB futures to win its fifth AL West crown in the last six years, and a top contender behind Toronto for the American League Pennant. Houston has a -160 price for division honors, and the Angels are in the +350 to +375 range to win their first AL West crown since 2014.
Valdez Making First Opening Day Start
While the Astros are favored to win the division, it’s the Angels who are drawing a small chalk line at online betting sites for the season opener. The Anaheim side will trot last year’s AL MVP Shohei Ohtani out to the bump at The Big A while Houston turns to southpaw Framber Valdez. Thursday’s scoreboard target is 8½ and favors the ‘under’ at some of the top-rated books.
Back for this third season on the top step of the Houston dugout is Dusty Baker, and work stoppages like the one this past winter are nothing new to him. Baker has, in fact, been a part of every strike or lockout in MLB history, either as a player or manager, not to mention the delay to the 2020 campaign caused by COVID-19.
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There are only a few new faces Baker had to deal with this spring, with the two biggest subtractions from Houston’s 2021 roster being Carlos Correa and Zack Greinke, who signed free-agent deals with Minnesota and Kansas City respectively. The Astros will have Justin Verlander back to essentially take Greinke’s spot, and are hopeful rookie Jeremy Peña has the right stuff to assume Correa’s spot at short.
Now entering his fifth season, Valdez is looking to build on an 11-6, 3.14 showing a year ago across 22 starts. He missed the first seven weeks or so with a finger injury and got off to a 4-0 start in his first five assignments. The 28-year-old Dominican won both starts against the Angels, tossing 12 combined innings and allowing four earned runs.
Ohtani on the Mound and in the Lineup
One of those runs Valdez gave up to the Angels was a solo shot by Ohtani in a September contest between the clubs. Ohtani was on the mound as a +170 underdog on the MLB odds for that game, and Houston roughed him up for six runs before leaving the mound in the fourth. He no-decisioned in his only other start against the Astros (7 IP, 1 ER, 1 K).
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When Ohtani departed that September 2021 start in Houston, he left the contest entirely. A rule change this offseason will allow Angels skipper Joe Maddon to keep his two-way star in the lineup as the DH. The Angels also have Michael Lorenzen who could benefit from the same rule change.
Lorenzen is one of several new faces in Anaheim, and the right-hander is being counted on for the rotation along with newcomer Noah Syndergaard. The Angels also signed relievers Archie Bradley, Ryan Tepera, and Aaron Loup.
‘Under’ Cashes 6 of 9 Meetings in Anaheim Last Year
With Houston beginning its 10th season in the AL West, the Astros and Angels are finally starting to build a bit of a rivalry. Unfortunately for the Anaheim bunch, the budding rivalry has been a bit lopsided in recent years with Houston winning 56 of the last 86 meetings (.651) since the start of the 2017 campaign.
Houston went 13-6 against the Angels a year ago, with the Astros winning six of the nine matchups played in Anaheim. Bettors playing the ‘under’ also cashed six of the nine games at Angel Stadium.
It’s going to be a warm afternoon in Anaheim where temps will climb into the mid-90s, and that could lead to extra big flies when the Astros and Angels take the field with the thermometer still in the mid-80s. Speaking of home runs, there’s a prop at BetOnline regarding Jose Altuve’s season total in the column, and I’m going ‘under’ 27½ (-115) for the Houston second baseman. However, I’ll play his side in the game tonight.
MLB Pick: Astros ML (+111) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
